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From: bennett@mp.cs.niu.edu (Scott Bennett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Unix popularity (was Re: The Unix story straight)
Message-ID: <1991Feb21.045023.16259@mp.cs.niu.edu>
Date: 21 Feb 91 04:50:23 GMT
References: <70662@microsoft.UUCP> <91049.125858UH2@psuvm.psu.edu> <1991Feb18.203338.13446@kithrup.COM>
Organization: Northern Illinois University
Lines: 46

In article <1991Feb18.203338.13446@kithrup.COM> sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) writes:
>In article <91049.125858UH2@psuvm.psu.edu> UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer) writes:
>>Also, I would be surprised if there were *more users* of Xenix than of
>>  [text deleted --SJB]
>
>If I remember the figures correctly, most BSD-based systems are for
>workstations; the xenix systems are for "turnkey" type of things, where the

     Until last summer we were running straight 4.3BSD on a VAX and now
we're running UMAX 4.3 on a 10-processor Encore.  Nobody here wants
anything to do with a non-BSD UNIX.  Our other UNIX systems are HP/UX
and SunOS, which are BSD-ish enough (so far) to pass.  One of the main
reasons I've wanted a NeXT (and finally bought one when the opportunity
arose:-) is that it runs MACH and MACH looks to the user-mode software
like a superset of 4.3BSD.

>person buying it has realized (s)he can put all twelve or so employees on a
>$1k box (a '286).  Since all they are doing is running canned software, that

     ?!TWELVE!?  8~|    I have trouble seriously imagining an office of
twelve users (simultaneously anyway) on a uport SysV/AT '286, much less
on a Xenix '286.  Your point is probably true, though, even if the numbers
are a tad high. ;-)

>never sees a shell prompt, they don't *care* what's running under it, as
>long as it meets their requirements, is cost effective, and works.  Believe
>it or not, xenix (usually from sco, I must admit, even as biased as I am
>about it) meets those criteria for many, many people.
>
>-- 
>Sean Eric Fagan  | "I made the universe, but please don't blame me for it;
>sef@kithrup.COM  |  I had a bellyache at the time."
>-----------------+           -- The Turtle (Stephen King, _It_)
>Any opinions expressed are my own, and generally unpopular with others.


                                  Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
                                  Systems Programming
                                  Northern Illinois University
                                  DeKalb, Illinois 60115
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